


Family and Promises

by Polly_Phemus (orphan_account)



Series: Dom down the Hall Prompts, Timestamps &tc [12]
Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - BDSM, Commitment, M/M, Meeting the Parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-16
Updated: 2017-07-16
Packaged: 2018-12-02 05:03:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11502315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Polly_Phemus
Summary: Jared gets the lowdown on Jensen's parents, who already have the lowdown on him.  Then they get to meet face-to-face.





	Family and Promises

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TxDorA](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TxDorA/gifts).



> TXDorA left some very thoughtful and helpful comments on an earlier story, wanting to know how Jensen's parents would react to hearing about their son's relationship with Jared. I hadn't really given that aspect of the relationship any thought whatsoever until then, so this story literally wouldn't exist without that input, hence the dedication/gift. They bear absolutely no responsibility for any flaws in concept or execution, however!
> 
> And another commenter thought it was great that Jensen has two dads but wondered how Jensen "came to be," so that got incorporated into the story as well. (In this AU, there's no Mpreg, but their scientists are working hard to figure out a way to get a viable embryo out of two same-sex parents, so far with little success.)

Jared and Jensen had each had a busy week; they barely had time to see each other. They'd managed to work out together three times in the communal gym, and only had two dinners together, both followed by retreating to their separate condos to catch up on paperwork and sleep alone. Friday was supposed to be their big "reunion;" Jared made clams linguini in Jensen's condo and then they made out on the couch which made them more sleepy than anything else.

Jensen shuffled them both to his bedroom, where they collapsed, both fast asleep by ten. Naturally, they were both awake before seven the following morning. They decided to luxuriate in bed, watching the room grow lighter. Jared, securely held in Jensen's arms, traced the dragon on Jensen's comforter.

"So...dragons," Jared said. 

"Mama," he said simply.

"Biological?"

"Yeah, from a genetic standpoint. She was my dad's...sub dad's...dom sister. She had heart problems and didn't expect to live long, so when she turned eighteen, when my dad was already promised to my other dad, they did tests and genetically she was fine, so she donated her eggs. My dads had some fun with a test tube and, I'm guessing, a Marvin Gaye album, and they hit the reproductive lottery: fraternal twins. They hired a surrogate, a dom working her way through college. She's a doctor in Botswana now; my dads get postcards from her sometimes and we're all on one another's Facebook."

"Wow."

"Anyway, Mama loved dragons. And working with her hands. All through high school, she did these awesome things with wood and leather, mostly with dragon motifs."

"You mean...she made your chest?" Jared gently extricated himself from Jensen's arms, going over to the chest to study the details, running his hands over the intricate carvings. "And your cuffs?"

"Yeah, and some other stuff, too," Jensen said from the bed. "She'd hoped to have kids one way or another. So when the whole pregnancy happened and she knew there'd be two of us, she kept some things to pass to us and sold everything else and put the money into college funds."

"Do you have a picture?"

"Of course," Jensen said, getting up and retrieving a couple of framed photos from the table by his reading chair. He brought them over to Jared, settling on the floor next to him, handing him one of the pictures.

"She's beautiful," Jared said. He'd vaguely noticed the pictures before but never really looked at them. It was true; the photo showed a lovely young blonde, with Jensen's eyes and mouth, smiling gently at the camera. She was sitting in a field, wearing a white blouse or sundress, a few daisies in her hair. It could've been taken at any time in the last fifty years.

"She died not too long after this picture was taken. She was twenty-one, so at least she lived long enough to see us walk and talk and call her Mama. My brother had put the daisies in her hair."

"Do you remember her?"

"A little. Impressions, smells, her voice. She used to sing Johnny Cash songs to us."

"What was her name?"

"Jennifer Carmen Ackles."

"Your dom dad took your sub dad's name?" While it was rare, it wasn't unheard of, especially in families with complex parentage histories.

"Yeah, keeping the Ackles name alive. He still acts under the name David Ross, but legally we've all got the same name."

"Therefore...Jensen Ross Ackles?"

"Yeah. My twin is Carter Ross Ackles."

"He your only sib?"

"Yep."

"It's so sad," Jared said.

"Yeah. We try not to dwell, but also not to forget. It's why I went into probate law."

"Oh. I saw on your LinkedIn that you did cinema studies and published on intellectual property law and then, I guess, changed over?"

"That's exactly what happened. When we turned twenty-one, Mama's lawyer gave us all her journals and letters. It got me thinking about legacies and family and how complicated things can get, so I switched. And I'm glad I did. It can get messy but it's ultimately very rewarding."

"And she liked dragons."

"She did indeed. She was fascinated that so many cultures have dragon myths."

"And she was a genius in the workshop."

"She was. Your dad's afghan, in a way, reminded me a bit of her."

Jared was trying not to tear up and he saw Jensen was having a similar moment.

"So...your dads?"

"Right," Jensen handed Jared the other picture: two handsome, smiling men in their fifties, wearing suits, standing by a rail in front of sunset over the ocean. Although Jensen most resembled the collared man, there was something about the dom in the picture that looked like Jensen as well. The attitude, maybe.

"They went on a cruise last year, all around Australia."

"Sounds nice."

"Daddums...my sub dad, his name is actually Patrick, Daddums is kind of a joke that stuck...got a deal because he wanted to teach sub self-defense and the cruise people were happy to have him do that. They offered him a job after the cruise was done."

"Talented family. Let me guess...your other dad got voiceover work from them?"

"Not quite," Jensen said with a laugh. "But we do seem to get the breaks."

"My mom says she got lucky because she banged her head against the right wall enough times."

"She's a stockbroker, right?"

"Yeah, and really good at it, too. Didn't leave much time for family, though."

Jensen got up to replace the photos and Jared sat on the edge of the bed. Jensen joined him, started massaging his shoulders. "Complicated."

"Mild understatement."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really. But I'd love to hear more about yours. Maybe over breakfast?"

They were settled at the dining table with coffee and toast before Jared tried to encourage further conversation about Jensen's family again.

"Have you told your folks about us?"

"Oh, yeah. I called them right after that first time I went over to your place."

"Really?" Jared was shocked. At that point, there really hadn't been much of anything to talk about.

"I wanted their advice. I was really nervous about giving you that corporal."

"Oh." Jensen didn't really like to talk about that, so Jared had tried to put it out of his own mind. 

"Yeah. I mean, they even knew that I had this cute neighbor and that I wanted to talk to him, but wasn't sure how to do it without coming across like a pervy dom."

"God."

"Yeah," Jensen said ruefully. "I talk to my dads like a teenage kid, still, sometimes."

"I think it's sweet," Jared said. "It's just...pretty far removed from how things are in my family."

"I know, which is why I haven't really talked about before now. Like...I'm really close to my parents and I feel like they were really great role models for me, in terms of their relationship, and I know things with your parents were a bit more...fraught."

"That's one way to put it. And I am a bit envious, but not in a resentful kind of way. So please don't ever feel like you'll be making me feel bad or dragging up bad memories if you want to talk about them."

"Okay, then I might as well confess that I've been updating them regularly about how things are going with us."

Jared groaned. "What was their favorite part? My clinging to the 'virgin' label when that ship had really sailed long before we met? Or the first time you got to spank me for fun?"

Jensen laughed. "Not those kinds of details. The most graphic I got was confessing that we missed the fireworks, although I didn't specify exactly what distracted us, just that we were distracted. Also, Dad, Dave that is, wants to know if duck eggs are better for you than chicken eggs."

"Not if he cares about cholesterol. If he's an egg-a-day person, he should stick with chicken except for special occasions. Unless he's a two eggs at a time person. One duck egg can pretty much replace two chicken eggs, but that's not a hard-and-fast rule. But he'll still be getting a truckload more cholesterol."

"Wanna tell him yourself?"

Jared gulped. Jared had talked to Jensen about his mother when he'd first asked for his help before their first date, and Jensen had talked to both his parents on Skype a week after they got together; until now, Jared hadn't known that much about Jensen's parents beyond the general fact of their existence.

"Now?" he asked, trying not to squeak.

"They want to come to Atlanta to visit, take in a couple of games, that kind of thing. They're just waiting for me to finesse it so that they can also get to know you."

"When are they coming?"

"No specific plans yet. They said it's pretty much up to you. Neither of them are very busy in the summer, except for Daddums hitting day camps to teach little subs how to kick dom ass."

Jared thought. The previous week had been Atlanta Pines' big push to get ready for the fall rush of tours and orientations and holiday meal planning; there would probably be some spillover into the next week.

"Maybe...after next week is over. Any time after that but before Labor Day would be good for me."

"Great! I'll see if there's a guest condo available." Their building had a couple of condos set aside for visiting friends and relatives; they cost a little bit less than hotel rates and were fully equipped.

Two weeks later, Jared paced nervously in Jensen's condo. They'd all decided that it would be easiest if Jensen picked up his parents at the airport and got them settled into the guest condo before the four of them met for dinner. Jared had a leg of lamb roasting in the oven and an array of cold appetizers ready to be served. Fortunately he could make rice pilaf in his sleep (and, during one particularly stressful exam week, literally had done just that) and steaming spinach was another cinch.

Jensen came in alone, inhaling deeply and smiling blissfully at Jared.

"How are they? Good flight?" Jared asked, trying to sound calm. 

"They're great, it all went fine except for the part where a toddler decided that her drink really belonged on Daddums's head rather than in her juice box. So there's a bit of a clean-up operation in progress. How's the roast?"

"Doing fine. About twenty minutes 'til it's out of the oven, then at least fifteen minutes to rest, but it can go a bit longer than that. Apps are in the fridge; I went with cold options. Sides will be easy."

"Sounds great, smells better," Jensen said, and swooped in for a kiss that was more affectionate than passionate. Jared was glad; he didn't want to get all submissive just before he met his dom's parents. He wanted them to meet Jared Padalecki, not just Jensen's sub.

Jensen kept up a reassuring stream of conversation until his phone indicated a text from one of his dads.

"They're on their way."

"Showtime," Jared said and took a deep breath.

"I'm nervous, too," Jensen confessed. "I really hope you'll like them."

Jared did. Both men had an easy, confident air about them, hugging Jensen and shaking hands with Jared, following old-fashioned protocol. Patrick, Jensen's sub dad, extended his hand to Jared while Dave waited for Jared to extend his. Handshakes and introductions made, Jared busied himself getting out the plates of canapes while Jensen got his dads squared away with glasses of wine.

The conversation was easy and light, focusing mostly on Jared. Jensen had told them about Misha's "social intervention," so they wanted to hear more about that and about Atlanta Pines in general. Jared had no end of stories about his co-workers and residents, even feeling bold enough to relate the latest about Mr. Gold's and Harry Alexander's request for fresh peeled ginger that was clearly not intended to be eaten. They all laughed at that, Patrick commenting that he'd always wondered what sadists and masochists did when they got too old for "vigorous activities." Jared's anecdotes prompted Jensen's dads to talk about their own friends, some of whom were contemplating moving into varying levels of assisted living, others of whom had parents confronted similar decisions. They sought Jared's professional opinion about elder care facilities, all three of them moving to the kitchen area while Jared demonstrated his rice pilaf technique.

By the time they sat down to eat, Jared was very much at ease and not even having too much trouble addressing both of the older men by their first names, as they preferred. It was so different from his own family dinners; Patrick didn't kneel at Dave's side the way Jared's dad did with his mom, and while everyone knew their way around a relatively formal table setting, there was virtually no dom/sub protocol going on. Just common courtesy.

Observing Jensen's parents, Jared wasn't the least surprised that Jensen himself had turned out the way he had.

Over dessert, a light fruit salad with yogurt dressing, the talk turned to travel. Dave and Patrick had just gotten back from Havana; they'd gone on a trip organized as a cultural exchange.

"Wanted to get it in just in case that window closes again," Dave said. Jared asked about the food, of course, and got an enthusiastic response that lasted well into the time Jensen broke out the port and moved a couple of the dining chairs to form a grouping by the wing chairs.

"You should go," Patrick finished enthusiastically, then frowned minutely. "If you have time, that is."

"We haven't really talked much about traveling together," Jensen said.

"I haven't done a lot of traveling," Jared said. "I used to spend a lot of my summers in Galveston with my Aunt Lucy, but my mom was pretty busy with her career and my dad's a real homebody. Inasmuch as I thought about it, I always felt a little intimidated about the idea of traveling as a sub alone."

Patrick nodded. "That's why I got into self-defense," he told Jared. "I saw pictures of Persepolis and told my parents I wanted to go there and they said the first thing I should do was learn to take care of myself. And Jennifer, my sister, wanted to go everywhere that had dragon myths, but since she couldn't travel...."

"I'm sorry," Jared said.

"Oh, it's all right," Patrick said. "I learned self-defense and ended up traveling for competitions. Then I went on a Grand Dragon Tour for Jennifer when I was twenty; she was about fifteen. I took so many pictures and had the world's bulkiest camcorder."

"We still have the pictures. And the videos," Dave said. "A buddy of mine is transferring them to digital files, but it's taking him a while. Not that I'm complaining, since he's doing it basically for free."

"Not quite," Patrick amended. "He's getting a framed set Jennifer's outlines for his trouble: half up-front, to inspire him, and half when he's done. His kids love them."

"She's still touching people's lives," Jared said without really thinking about it.

"She really is," Patrick agreed. "Quite a legacy she left us."

Jared reached out for Jensen's hand. "I know I'm in her debt. And yours."

Dave lifted his glass. "To Jennifer Carmen Ackles," he toasted and they all raised their glasses.

Although Dave and Patrick were only in town for a couple of days, they packed quite a bit in. The spent most of a day at the Carter Library, Patrick saying, "For the longest time, I blamed him for the fact that I never got to go to Persepolis. But he's done a lot of good since then."

They went to a Braves game. Jensen got called into work and missed the SNBA game between the Dream and the Sun, but by then Jared felt easy enough around Jensen's parents that he didn't need a buffer.

Both Jared and Jensen saw them off at the airport.

"I'm just gonna come out and say it myself," Jared said on the drive home. "That went really well."

"It did," Jensen said with satisfaction. 

"They're great guys. You and your brother are lucky."

"Well, you know it wasn't always sunshine and lollipops and rainbows," Jensen said.

"Of course not. Your brother," Jared said, remembering Jensen telling him that Carter'd had problems with self-mutilation.

"Yeah; that was a real mess. Fortunately they caught it fairly early on but still...."

Jared didn't know much about the problem. There'd been a wave of it at his high school, but it hadn't really touched on him or anyone that he knew. Or knew of, he thought. Maybe some of his closest friends had been dealing with stuff like that in secret.

"But he's okay now, right?"

"Yeah. He teaches high school now, chemistry, and watches his students like a hawk."

"He got somebody?"

"Nah, but until recently, neither did I. We're not a family to put pressure on one another over that kind of thing."

Jensen dropped the subject to concentrate on maneuvering them safely through a traffic jam and Jared rode quietly, thinking about family: his and Jensen's. Wondering what kind of family they would have. They hadn't really had a chance to talk about long-term goals, although it was obvious to both of them that the most basic goal of all was that they wanted to be together. Beyond that...they didn't know anyone with children, but Jensen seemed generally well-disposed toward them. Jared wasn't quite sure how he felt about having children of his own; he, too, liked children as a concept, but he'd spent so much of his efforts in building a career that he hadn't really thought of how kids might fit into his future.

For the time being, he figured, concentrating on making sure he and Jensen fit into each other's futures was what he cared most about.

The unusual but comfortable silence between them lasted until after they'd returned to Jensen's condo. Jared helped Jensen clear away the breakfast stuff they'd just let soak in the interest of making sure Jensen's dads got to the airport in time. 

"Hey, they left you a present," Jared said when they sat down to enjoy a cup of coffee, noticing a black square box sitting on the table between the wing chairs.

"Oh, that," Jensen said. "It's not really a present, at least not from them." Jensen fidgeted with his coffee cup, making a face as he took a sip.

"What is it, then?" Jared pressed, drinking some of his own coffee. It tasted fine to him.

"It's some stuff Mama made to pass along. I just asked them to deliver it," Jensen said. He'd put down his coffee and picked up the box, moving it from hand to hand.

"More dragon stuff?" Jared asked.

"Sort of. It's...look, why don't you open it?" Jensen asked, passing the box over to Jared.

"Sure. Your mom's stuff is always cool," Jared said, setting his coffee down to open the box. "I'd love to see what else she...."

Jared lost his voice, his words. In the box, nestled on a bed of velvet, were a sub collar and two dom cuffs. All three pieces were wide, dark green leather, carefully worked with Persian dragons. 

And fastened with buckles.

"If you don't like the green, she also made blue. And black. And brown. She was getting to know us, but she knew she'd never know who we'd end up wanting to be with," Jensen said nervously. "I just picked the...well, green makes me think of you."

"They're beautiful," Jared said. He lifted the collar and extended it to Jensen. "Would you please put this on me?" he asked simply.

"Only if you'll put those on me," Jensen said, indicating the cuffs.

"I will. After..." Jared placed the collar in Jensen's hands.

"Okay," Jensen agreed. "Please stand up," he asked, standing himself.

Jared stood and Jensen reached up to buckle the collar on Jared. It felt like it belonged, like all those years ago, Jennifer Carmen Ackles had known exactly who would be wearing it. Jared barely noticed that Jensen's hands were shaking as he buckled it in place.

Jared's hands were as sure as they'd ever been as he buckled the cuffs on Jensen.

"I promise myself to you, Jensen Ackles," he said, his voice sure.

"I gratefully accept your promise and return it, Jared Padalecki," Jensen answered, and as nervous as he might have been while he'd been buckling the collar on Jared, his voice was just as steady and true as Jared's.


End file.
